I never would have thought of sewing with fabric that celebrates the Mexican holiday "Day of the Dead." You know - sugar skulls and other spooky images. I was raised in California and knew about this. I had a lot of Mexican friends whose families observed it. Fine with me. I got the Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs and some candy canes at Christmas. Plenty of sugar for me! My middle daughter fell in love with some beautiful sugar skull flower pots from Trader Joe's. Windham has the Fiesta line and sent me some fabrics! Big WOW! And they aren't scary, either. Fiesta Collection by Windham Fabrics There are two other fabrics (guitars and sugar skulls) that have the black background, but I didn't get any of that. But I was ready to stitch up some fun things. I looked around on Pinterest and saw a large quilt with a sugar skull in the center of a Dresden Plate. That was good enough for me. I had no idea what size the blocks were, if they used an 18 degree wedge...

I use a lot of diamonds in my English Paper Piecing. I love to use them alone as in my Seven Sisters Quilt. Each of the 7 star blocks uses 12 diamonds (2") and they are set together with orange triangles. You can see this and over 100 of my EPP blocks and quilts on my EPP Pinterest Board ! Seven Sisters made using 2" diamonds *****Diamonds can be cut from fabric  based on the finished size of the diamond PLUS 3/4” (3/8“ seams on each end). Use your rotary cutter to slice off a 60 degree angle on one end. Measure X” from that edge and cut a fabric diamond. Continue cutting to get the needed number of diamonds for your block. In the example below, I am cutting for a much larger quilt unit, but you get the idea. Here is a simple chart for 2" diamonds. Cutting and using diamonds in English Paper Piecing Measure the paper diamond from flat side to flat side. Add 3/4" for seams (3/8" twice) and cut a strip to that width. Use your standard acr...

I woke up in the middle of the night (what's new?) and realized that, in my quest for the perfect collection of fabrics for an upcoming Mystery Quilt project with my local guild, I hadn't considered the Norma Rose Collection that's been sitting on my shelves for a few months!! It was sent by Windham Fabrics as they know I like to feature their latest collections here in blog-ville. Norma Rose by Natalie Barnes for Windham Fabrics (ships in October 2020) I should have known! I am particularly drawn to all of Natalie Barnes' designs. All the fabrics work well with each other. This collection has 20 different skus and plenty of contrast. Look at those printed grays! Five!! I have loved: Hand Maker (2016) Maker's Home (2017) Homeward (2019) I still have quite a few fat quarters from Hand Maker and Maker's Home. They will be a perfect blend with what I have. Here is Maker's Home . Can you see the similarities in the colors and personality? ...

I have news for you: you probably have the EXACT tool/ruler to cut most fabric patches for English Paper Piecing (EPP). You don't need those specialty templates for each size. You don't need a triangle ruler for each size. You don't need an acrylic template for each size. While they are nice, they aren't necessary. And this will save you a lot of money - and time! (And if you don't have a 60 degree triangle ruler, I have them in my Etsy store ). 2" hexagons, 1-3/4" hexagons, 1-1/2" hexagons - and so on. Stack of various sizes of Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks My favorite ruler is an Olfa 6" x 12" acrylic ruler. It has those marvelous diagonal lines that you may not have thought much of. And the close second to that ruler is my multi-sized 60 degree triangle ruler in both 6-1/2" and 8-1/2" sizes. You probably have one, too. It could be a Creative Grids one or Fons and Porter. But it MUST have a blunted tip for it to ...

I'm revisiting this topic in order to set the record straight. I have made several Double Wedding Ring (DWR) quilts over the past 25 years and I've shared many of them here on my blog. This is one of my most recent ones. The center is 22" (actually, those blocks are 11-1/4" finished, so the center is 22-1/2" finished). Fat Double Wedding Ring, also called Pickle Dish Pickle Dish gets its name from the cut glass dish used to serve, well, pickles! This was a popular 1930s pattern that was only for those who could stitch accurately and weren't afraid of templates and curved seams. You don't believe me? Ha! Pickle Dish pattern in Kansas City Star October 28, 1931 Here is my first Pickle Dish quilt using a collection by Windham Fabrics. This is NOT for beginners. It is foundation (paper pieced) and I believe doable only because it IS paper pieced! Traditional Pickle Dish Then I made one using some Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Lots of points! My ...